Description
Beating Heart Failure is a major research area in the fast paced industrialised world. Doctors at Hammersmith Hospital in London are testing new treatment for heart failure. It’s been discovered that nerves around the kidneys send messages to the brain, which leads to abnormal hormone levels causing heart failure.
By permanently numbing these nerves with electricity and radio waves pulsed through a catheter, these damaging messages cannot get through. In this film we see how a catheter is fed up through an artery right up to the kidneys. Its progress is monitored live using X-rays. Once in position, electricity and radio waves are pulsed through the end of the catheter, inactivating the nerves, but without damaging the patient’s kidneys. This technique has been used successfully in other countries on patients suffering from high blood pressure. But this trial is the first time it’s been used to treat heart failure, anywhere in the world.
With heart failure cases increasing worldwide, doctors say this novel approach offers hope for patients.